Electronics
Proximity Marketing Will Drive Demand
for Mobile Payment Services
Proximity marketing has opened new channels for vendors to reach consumers when they are on the go, shopping and running errands. Smartphone users are able to purchase products, redeem coupons, and earn rewards points from select retail partners. These mobile transactions are giving rise to another emerging technology: the adoption of mobile payments.
According to the results of a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, many experts believe that mobile payments could eliminate the need for consumers to carry cash and credit cards by the year 2020. One of the primary mobile wallet services being considered is the Near Field Communications-based Google Wallet tap-and-pay application.
But are we, the ordinary, everyday consumers, ready to set aside our plastic and cash in favor of embracing mobile payments? This emerging, high-tech mode of payment sounds very futuristic. Indeed, concerns about banking security combined with privacy fears may make us reluctant to hop on the mobile bandwagon. On the other hand, mobile wallet services offer potential benefits that go beyond convenience.
More than just looking hip and cool, making a purchase on your smartphone via a mobile payment app can encourage financial responsibility. For instance, MasterCard’s app offers money management options that allow you to curb spending by setting limits, approve or block transactions by type (such as clothing or dining), and enable spending alerts.
A recent study from Juniper Research forecasts that consumers will use mobile payments to pay for $670 billion worth of goods and services by 2015.
Demand for mobile payment services will be driven by proximity marketing. Merchants can use proximity marketing to deliver location-specific personal shopper services, targeted discounts, loyalty program rewards, and other rich media content to consumers. The real beauty of it is that proximity marketing provides a valuable service enjoyed by both merchants and consumers alike. The benefits derived from this powerful advertising will ensure the ultimate staying power for mobile wallets.
The future of commerce has already forged a symbiotic relationship between two tech innovations: proximity marketing and mobile payments.
Smartphones Are Saving Trees
In every real estate office, inbox trays overflowed with colorful flyers announcing hot properties. It was standard operating procedure: create an attractive flyer about a home for sale, choose the paper color, get a couple hundred copies printed, and give them to the office assistant to deliver to all of the other real estate offices in the surrounding area. That was one way of creating a buzz about your listing.
An effective flyer sells the dream of home ownership. It sells the benefits of owning the home, not just a long list of features. If the property has a mountain and water view, describe how buyers can enjoy watching magnificent sunsets from their deck. Include photos to show potential buyers what they’re getting. Pictures truly convey more than a thousand words ever could.
Good sales copy is still as effective as ever, but thanks to advances in technology, marketing methods have changed.
Mobile marketing is the newest, fastest growing form of advertising. When you consider the statistics concerning global smartphone sales, it’s not surprising. According to Gartner, Inc., an information technology research and advisory company, worldwide smartphone sales soared in the fourth quarter of 2011 with 47 percent growth. Total smartphone sales in 2011 reached 472 million units and accounted for 31 percent of all mobile device sales, up 58 percent from 2010.
Mobile marketing offers so many advantages. The same beautiful flyer can be distributed to smartphones via wireless technology, saving hundreds of pounds of paper each year. Information on new listings and reminders about open house dates can be sent instantly to the mobile devices of potential buyers. Realtors are quickly adapting to this new technology that will help them generate leads and sales.
Smartphone marketing is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. As more and more people are looking towards a greener future, companies are taking more responsibility for their impact on the environment. Businesses are recognizing that mobile advertising presents great opportunities to communicate with customers, improve their bottom line, reduce paper consumption, and enhance their image – all at the same time!
Better Than Business Cards
What is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and less expensive than business cards? Why, it’s… over-the-air, smartphone proximity marketing!
Imagine what it would be like to speak to everyone who passed by your store in the mall or your restaurant on Main Street. You could cordially invite them to come in to save up to 60% on designer apparel or tell them about the specials on the dinner menu. Compelling marketing like this is not fiction. It is location-based marketing for the 21st century: proximity marketing.
Utilizing wireless technology, your business can advertise to smartphone users within a radius of about 1,000 feet. Creative content is delivered in real time to an audience of shoppers near you who can react spontaneously to your message. You can attract new customers and bring back regular patrons with special promotions and time-sensitive coupons. Speak directly to the consumer in rich media via wireless technology. That’s memorable, powerful direct marketing!
Now you might think that an innovative advertising method of this sort comes with a hefty price tag, but you would be wrong. Over-the-air, smartphone marketing is affordable and well-suited to businesses of every size and type.
Marketing certainly has progressed a long way beyond business cards and flyers to all that today’s cutting edge technology makes possible. Proximity Marketing – the next evolution in advertising has arrived.
Proximity Marketing – Advertising Evolved
Smartphones have made text only SMS messages obsolete. Rich media, encompassing a broad range of digital interactive media, have taken the place of text ads. Businesses can deliver images, websites, mp3 music, phone apps and more rich media content to consumers via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. In fact, business owners can broadcast rich media advertising messages to a large audience by making use of proximity marketing.
What is proximity marketing and why should businesses care about this innovative marketing strategy?
Proximity marketing is a service provided by advertising companies that utilize the power of Bluetooth and Wireless (Wi-Fi) technology to communicate to mobile devices. By taking advantage of this means of advertising, businesses can engage nearly all smartphone users within approximately 1,000 feet of their store or event.
Imagine the possibilities for creative advertising:
- Send special offers or merchandise discounts exclusively for shoppers in the store.
- Send coupons or special deals good for the day only.
- Offer promotions for purchases made online to drive website sales.
The technology used to send these advertisements to the smartphone users creates free internet hotspots. If a person chooses to receive and view the ad content, they may browse the Web without accessing their data plans, using the hotspot created by the proximity marketing service.
Small businesses can afford to embrace proximity marketing; it’s not just for the big box stores and Fortune 500 companies with deep pockets. Proximity marketing is an exciting step forward in the world of mobile advertising!
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Have MiFi – Will Travel
Part I: The North Cascades Highway
With the motor coach loaded and ready to go, we got an early start. We were eager to begin our vacation, ready to get away from the dull, gray, cloud-covered skies that had been present all week. Another motive for our early departure was cinnamon rolls for breakfast!
There’s a little restaurant called The Eatery just west of Marblemount on the North Cascades Highway where Tootsie Clark bakes fresh cinnamon rolls every morning. I wanted to be sure to get there before the buttery, sweet cinnamon rolls were all gone…
Feeling full after breakfast we smiled at each other, wiped our sticky fingers, and continued the drive up Highway 20.
Although we have traveled that route many times, the scenic beauty always inspires wonder and admiration that adjectives cannot describe.
Have you ever seen a lake the color of green jade? We stopped to marvel at the stunning overlook at Lake Diablo. The distinctive green color of the lake is caused by finely-ground rock dust suspended in the water which reflects the green of the forest.
Then we headed towards the passes over the Cascade Mountains, first Rainy Pass and then the highest – at 5,477 feet – Washington Pass. Next stop, Eastern Washington. Sunshine, blue skies and warm summer weather!
Liberty Bell, icon of the American Alps, towers above Washington Pass. (photo by Ken Wilcox)
From Highway 20 we turned south onto the Methow Valley Highway (Route 153). At the end of that road, where the Columbia and Methow Rivers meet, is the town of Pateros, WA.
Little wonder that Pateros has become a favorite spot to rest and refresh. The waterfront park, an oasis of soft grass and shade trees, is on the Columbia River. Perfect for boating, water-skiing, and jet skiing.
Storyboards placed along the walking trail give you a glimpse into the area’s colorful history.
I read about the Chinese miners who arrived in the 1860’s and were among the first settlers in this area. They came to pan for gold along the Columbia River and at the mouth of the Methow. The miners built the “China Ditch” that provided water for their work. Constructed by hand, the ditch was about six miles long. In later times, it was used for irrigating the local orchards.
Then I tried to imagine what it must have been like in the days of the sternwheelers. Until the arrival of the railroad, sternwheelers moved people and commerce up and down the rivers. During the spring runoff, the rapids boiled – making the passage even more challenging! At these times, cables were fastened to U-bolts in rocks on the riverbank and driven by a steam-powered deck winch, these cables pulled the boats through the churning rapids!
Our dog likes it here, too. She likes to take walks and check out the marmots that live in the rocks along the river bank.
We’ll spend a day or two here… reading, checking email, doing some work online – the MiFi connection is great here!
MiFi 2200 – Portable Wi-Fi
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she shall have music MiFi
wherever she goes. ~To paraphrase the nursery rhyme. ~
Summertime came knocking on my door and beckoned me to follow. It didn’t take long to convince me of the soundness of the idea. After all, the summer of 2010 only happens once.
Since my husband and I both love to travel, I knew he would probably say something like, “So when are we leaving?” We’re both a little on the impulsive side. Could you tell?
Summer in the Northwest is a great time to be alive. The incredible beauty of pristine mountain meadows, a rainforest, cowboys and rodeos, concerts and fairs … so many WONDERFUL places to visit and pictures to take!
It is an absolutely glorious feeling to realize that there is nothing keeping you at home. Being self-employed, neither of us has to ask a boss for time off. So we decided to get the motor coach ready for a road trip.
Working when you please ~ from wherever you are ~ is one of the finest perks of mobile computing made possible by technology. And, having two laptops, we upgraded the AirCard® to our latest tech gadget, the MiFi 2200.
The MiFi 2200 is a tiny, portable modem that turns your personal space into a wireless Wi-Fi hotspot! Very impressive!
It’s hard to believe that such a remarkable modem can be packaged in a device as small as a stack of several credit cards. The Verizon MiFi is simple to use and allows us to connect both laptops to the internet at the same time.
You can use the MiFi in two modes: Wi-Fi or USB. In Wi-Fi mode you can connect as many as five Wi-Fi enabled devices at once. The MiFi can also be used with a USB connection if the battery (which should last for about four hours) runs out while in Wi-Fi mode. Charging the battery is as simple as connecting it to the computer’s USB port, so battery life is really not an issue.
With our internet on-the-go needs covered, I can take a break from work and go finish packing! I’ll leave you with this link to an excellent and detailed review of the MiFi 2200.
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